The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 37

T- U.S. struggles again in Ryder Cup Freedom topples Allen, 19-16 ffCEX NFL C2-C4 Auto Racing C4 ColL Football C7-CI0 Baseball C11-C14 Scoreboard C1J PENN STATE POSTGAME REPORT CARD Rushing offense PAGECM PAGE C5 Tony Hunt is beginning to separate himself as the No. 1 back. Passing offense SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2004 THE MORNING CALL SECTION PENN STATE 37, UCF 13 QUtofflt misp bade hk Mixed with some lovely touch pses were two interceptions and twice as many drops. Running defense A ,..1 i I CWv- I I 1 PENN STATFS TONY HUNT races away from Central Florida defenders in for 125 yards on 16 carries, the second time in three games in which he's a game in which he scored three topped 100 yards.

Denite Sanchez The Morning Call touchdowns. The tailback rushed i in mm Princeton pummels Lafayette 35-18 PSU rules UCF but commits six turnovers, two on fumbled By Beth Hudson Of The Morning Call STATC COLUGE With the Perm State defense on the field protecting a 21-3 lead, quarterback Zack Mills and center E.Z. Smith were on the sideline practicing snaps. No doubt, they'll do that a few more times this week. For those looking for a positive spin on Penn State's 37-13 victory over Central Florida on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, there were several: The Nittany Lions won their second game of the season after winning only three in 2003.

They won a week after a mistake-marred loss at Boston College. They won after facing a bit of adversity in the first quarter the Golden Knights scored first after Jeremy Kapi-nos botched a punt to give UCF excellent field position. And, finally, sophomore tailback Tony Hunt scored a career-high three touchdowns. The bad news? Penn State (2-1) didn't clean up after its five-turnover mess at Boston College. The bad punt led to a UCF field goal.

And the Lions turned the ball over six times including two fumbled snaps between Smith and Mills. "Every day, the quarterbacks and centers come out 10 minutes before anyone else to work on snap's," Penn State PENNSTATE PAGE C8 program. Lafayette fell to 2-31 all-time at Princeton and hasn't beaten the Tigers on the road since 1982. The Tigers also lost wide receiver Joe Ort late in the game to an apparent neck injury. He left the field on a stretcher after getting hit by two Princeton defenders late in the fourth quarter.

Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said Ort had movement in all his extremities and that Ort was taken to the hospital as a precaution. "It was a helmet-to-helmet hit, which clearly should have been a penalty," Tavani said. The Leopards endured a long day thanks to the flooding in the Lehigh Valley. The Lafayette campus lost power in the early-morning hours Saturday, forcing the Leopards to scram- LAFAYETTE PAGE C7 he is not one for idle chitchat. He spoke in clipped, let's-get-this-over-with sentences.

He discarded questions he disliked as he might an overweight tackle or a 4.8-running safety. Asked about the Eagles, his team's opponent Monday night, he sent the usual gee-whizzes in the direction of Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens. But then he said this: "The team as a whole seems to have a little bit different attitude, a little nastier atti- JONES PAGE C4 Linebackers really came to "play, especially freshman Dan Connor, who soon may replace Derek Wake. Passing defense Safety Andrew Guman has emerged as' one of the team's best open-field tacklers. Special teams Long-snapping issues led to a few short punts, notably a 6-yarder.

Overall grade 11 turnovers in two games? Uh oh. Joe Patemo QUOTABLE "We should never have an exchange fumble, and to have two in one game is very disturbing." JOE PATERNO Penn State coach PLAY OF THE GAME LINEBACKER DAN CONNOR'S second-quarter interception of a tipped pass set up a touchdown that gave Penn State a 21-3 lead. STAR OF THE GAME TONY HUNT Penn State running back Hunt rushed for 125 yards (averaging 7.8 per carry) and three touchdowns, including 33- and 26-yarders. TOP 25 SCOREBOARD No. 1 USC at BYU, late No.

2 Oklahoma 31, Oregon 7 No. 3 Georgia 13, Marshall 3 No. 4 Miami 48, La. Tech 0 No. 14 Auburn 10, No.

5 Auburn 9 No. 6 Texas did not play. No. 7 West Virginia 19, No. 21 Maryland 16 (OT) No.

8 Florida State 34, UAB 7 No. 9 Ohio State 22, N.C. St. 14 No. 10 California at So.

Miss, ppd. No. 11 Florida at No. 13 Tennessee, late No. 12 Virginia 51, Akron 0 No.

15 Utah 48, Utah State 6 No. 16 Iowa at Arizona State. No. 17 Mich. 24, S.

Diego St. 21. No. 18 Purdue did not play. No.

19 Fresno State vs. Portland State, late No. 20 Wisconsin 9, Arizona 7 No. 22 Minnesota at Colorado late No. 23 Boise State at UTEP, late No.

24 Louisville at Tulane, ppd. No. 25 Memphis 47, Ark. St. 35 Rath rumbles in Lehigh victory The running back notches a career-high 144 yards vs.

Liberty. By Keith Groller Of The Morning Call LYNCHBURG, VA. Liberty University felt the wrath of Mother Nature on Friday when several tornados spun off what was left of Hurricane Ivan and forced the cancellation of classes by midday. On Saturday night, Liberty felt a different kind of Rath. The Leopards' vaunted defense is shredded for 410 total yards.

By Stephen Miller Of The Morning Call PRINCETON, NJ. With the remnants of Hurricane Ivan pounding Easton, Lafayette didn't know whether it would make it off College Hill on Saturday. The Leopards did, only to receive a pounding on the football field from Princeton. The Tigers' 35-18 victory at Princeton Stadium was a lot worse for Lafayette than the final score showed. The Leopards (2-1) trailed by as many as 29 points, watching their bid for their first 3-0 start since 1988 end at Princeton, a house of horrors for the Chuck Steenburgh WG Sports LEHIGH TAILBACK ERIC RATH races for yardage against Liberty University.

The Mountain Hawks overcame a slow start to win 34-16. Nastier on defense? Eagles appreciate the compliment Trotter giving Eagles a 'special' surprise Eric Rath ran for a career-high 144 yards and scored a touchdown to help Lehigh shake off a slow start and roll to a 34-16 win before 10,895 at Williams Stadium. MONDAY NIGHT Who: Eagles vs. Vikings When: 9 p.m. Where: Lincoln Financial Field TV: ABC Radio: FM INSIDE: Eagles Gameday, C2 In improving to 2-1 all nonleague entering a bye week, Lehigh delivered its most complete performance of LEHIGH PAGE MkhM Kubd Morning Call file photo JEREMIAH TROTTER led the team in special-teams 'production points' in the Eagles' 31-17 win over the Giants last Sunday.

iiiuii iiji.Hiiim Wui in. inn hi '3 I Comment I fj" G0RDIE JONES The 'old' guy went all out like a rookie on special teams last week. By Larry 0'Rourke The Morning Call PHILADELPHIA For an old guy, Jeremiah Trotter is doing just fine on the Philadelphia Eagles' special teams. The thing Trotter finds EAGLES PAGE C4 PHILADELPHIA It might have been dismissed as a throw-away line, as the sort of game-week smoke-blowing engaged in by every coach from Pop Warner football on up. But in the course of a phone conversation with Eagles writers Thursday afternoon, Vikings coach Mike Tice made it abundantly clear.